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Time for a treatment update and some good news! Yes, things aren’t as bad. 🙂

My major focus with my health since I started this blog has always been to stop the residual, daily convulsive episodes that have plagued me for over 5 years. More recently my treatment plan has centered around treating a gut infection that appears to be related. Some call it Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) and specifically for me it might be due to a clostridia species infection. Regardless, the gut-brain connection is real and affects neurotransmitters in the brain. A myriad of neurological issues can result when these chemicals are deficient or out of balance. Specific medications and nutritional supports directed by a functional medicine doctor in the past nor my genetic coach/naturopathic physician more recently seemed promising but did not help. Over the past 5 1/2 years, my medical doctor and I have also addressed or ruled out a plethora of other avenues (biotoxin illness, Lyme disease, mercury and lead toxicity, nutritional deficiencies, dental factors, epigenetic expression, pain/structural complications, the endocannibinoid system with CBD oil, psychological issues, ruling out brain or cardiac anomalies, sleep issues, etc.). But what about the dull ache in my tummy?

I did an experiment with a hand held far infrared (FIR) device designed to treat pain. I used to sell the KenkoWave when I was an Independent Wellness Consultant for a Japanese health technologies company called NIKKEN. Pain in the right lower quadrant of my abdomen has persisted for over a year. A comprehensive medical workup yielded no clues so I decided to shine the FIR light onto my tummy. After just 2 minutes, I had a 2-hour, violent, non-stop convulsive episode that would not respond to any remedy we tried! I hung on for dear life! I experimented some more the next couple of days with the same result: an hour of non-stop episodes after only 60 seconds! Holy cow! Maybe the cause is in there somewhere? By this time I had gotten the results for the THIRD SIBO test coupled with an Organic Acids Test (from Genova Diagnostics and Great Plains Laboratories, respectively) with severe and high markers respectively. Over the next month, a plan of attack came together.

Somehow treating SIBO last year with an antibiotic (that stays in the gut called Xifaxan) was not enough to solve the problem. The current round began with about a week of a powerful bio-botanical followed by a nasty antibiotic called Flagyl or Metronidazole. The drug makes me nauseous so I take another pill for that. I am not fond of drugs but at this point I will do it if it KILLS THE BEAST!!! Gratefully, the abdominal pain has already come down. This leads me to the good news:

One-point reduction in the 1-10 pain scale.

Less reactivity to noxious stimuli and pain that used to trigger seizure attacks.

Shorter episodes that are generally less violent.

One less episode most days at my most vulnerable times: falling asleep or waking up.

Ability to get to bed before midnight up to 3 nights per week. (I often stay up late to avoid seizure attacks falling asleep. Sometimes this has helped in the past.)

Movement in a better direction on several laboratory test and scan results.

The changes also appear to have been impacted positively by taking Low Dose Naltrexone. Persons with autoimmunity diseases and fibromyalgia often use it to reduce a variety of symptoms. I did not do well on a different dose in the past but I believe the Lord led me to do some research and prompt me to try it again at a lower dose. This started the list of improvements noted above with the reduction in chronic muscle and joint pain. Praise the Lord! Treating the gut infection followed and here we are.

I am encouraged and hope you are as well, Gentle Reader. Lord willing, I am going to get well!

If you are someone reading this who is struggling with severe illness, please let me know so I may pray for you. And please don’t give up! If I can make it through hours per day of head-banging, you can make it through what you are dealing with too. You are not alone. Keep trusting in the Lord to see you through each moment, to guide you and comfort you as only He can do so. He promises to never leave us or forsake us and will always be near if we but call upon our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He sees us on our bed of sickness. He hears us. And one day He will come again in glory for us, taking us to a place where there will be no more suffering or weeping. He promised!

8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
9 Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints!
There is no want to those who fear Him.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger;
But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.

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Disclaimer

Gentle Reader: I'm writing this blog to share my story, to instill hope, and for general informational purposes only. This blog is not intended as, nor should it be considered a substitute for, professional, legal, or medical advice. Take care, JJ